Essay

Essay

Most Indians tried to stay neutral in what they saw as a British civil war. Even when, eventually, most sided with the British, they were not fighting against freedom; like the American patriots, they fought to defend their freedom as they understood it. In Indian eyes, aggressive Americans posed a greater threat than did a distant king to their land, their liberty, and their way of life. The American War of Independence was an Indian war for independence as well.

Glossary Term – Person

Born on the western frontier of the Carolinas, Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) was the seventh president of the United States and the first from west of the Appalachians. Jackson rose from poverty to a career in law and politics, becoming Tennessee’s first congressman, a senator, and judge on the state supreme court. Although he would later gain a reputation as the champion of the common people, in Tennessee he was allied by marriage, business, and political ties to the state’s elite. As a land speculator, cotton planter, and attorney, he...